Muncie-Delaware County EDA Exceeds $4 Million Fundraising Goal, Discusses Year One Progress
(Muncie, December 11, 2012) The Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance held a combined Victory Breakfast and Annual Meeting today at the Horizon Convention Center. It was announced that the $4 million fundraising effort to finance the new five-year Vision 2016 economic development program was not only achieved, but exceeded. It marks the largest economic development fundraising effort in the history of Muncie-Delaware County.
“The achievement of this financial goal speaks well to the history of the program and the many successes our economic development program has accomplished,” said David Heeter, Co-Chair of the fundraising initiative. “We need to continue to bring jobs and investment into our community and the achievement of the $4 million goal is a testament of the investors’ belief that the Vision 2016 staff will do just that with the assistance of the community’s elected officials,” noted Heeter.
The results for the first eleven months of the Vision 2016 program included: $68 million in new capital investment, 426 new and endangered jobs saved, $15.4 million in new and retained payroll and $500,000 in new loans to existing businesses. Highlights included Sallie Mae’s 200 job expansion; Spartech, Magna Powertrain, and Bell Aquaculture expansions along with the construction of 40,000 and 50,000 square foot expandable “shell buildings”. There have been 17 assisted projects to-date.
“We are excited about these expansions and the pipeline is full of exciting opportunities,” said Jim Williams, Co-Chair of the fundraising initiative and Chairman of the Board of Delaware Advancement Corporation. “We are also pleased that the team at the Economic Development Alliance was honored with the ‘Excellence in Economic Development Award at the County Level’ from the Site Selectors Guild.” The Guild comprises 25 of the world’s leading site selectors and the EDA was the only county level economic development organization in the United States to receive such an award.Frank Spano, a national consultant from Austin Consulting, gave a keynote presentation on “Current Trends in Site Selection”.
About the Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance
The Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance (EDA) is a private economic development organization dedicated to the growth and prosperity of Muncie-Delaware County, Indiana. The Alliance’s purpose is to allocate and leverage economic development resources to sustain and enhance the economic growth, vitality and global competitiveness of Muncie-Delaware County as a superior business location. The EDA’s administrative entities are Delaware Advancement Corporation and the Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce.